Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a Central European state that existed from 1918 to 1992. It united the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia with Slovakia, created from parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its capital was Prague, and the official languages were Czech and Slovak. The country bordered Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, and Austria.

The state was founded after World War I. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk served as its first president, with Edvard Beneš as a leading statesman. A 1920 constitution established a parliamentary democracy in a multiethnic population.

In 1938–39 the Munich Agreement led to the loss of border areas and occupation by Nazi Germany. Slovakia became a separate pro-Nazi state, and Czech lands were annexed. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reestablished and, in 1948, fell under a communist government. The 1968 Prague Spring briefly liberalized the system before a Warsaw Pact invasion. In 1969 the country was federated, forming the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic within the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

The Velvet Revolution of 1989 ended Communist rule and sparked political and economic reforms. In 1992 a peaceful agreement led to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993.

Since then, both successor states have pursued Western integration, joining the European Union and NATO in the 2000s: Czech Republic (EU 2004, NATO 1999) and Slovakia (EU 2004, NATO 2004).